Rancho Mission Viejo - The Mission Viejo Company/Santa Margarita Company/Rancho Mission Viejo, LLC

The Mission Viejo Company/Santa Margarita Company/Rancho Mission Viejo, LLC

In 1963, the O'Neill family and its partners established The Mission Viejo Company and embarked on its first residential development, the 11,000 acres (45 km2) planned community of Mission Viejo. Marguerite's grandson, Anthony "Tony" Moiso, newly graduated from college and fresh out of the U.S. Army, took over operations.

In 1972, when Mission Viejo Co. and its remaining undeveloped area in Mission Viejo were sold, Moiso began managing the remaining 40,000 acres (160 km2) of Rancho Mission Viejo. Moiso and his uncle, Richard O'Neill, have preserved more than 20,000 acres (81 km2) of open space and moved forward with additional development of the former Rancho. Rancho Mission Viejo is still a working ranch with 600 head of cattle and has more than 500 acres (2.0 km2) of citrus trees, as well as crops of avocados, beans and barley.

Rancho Mission Viejo is today home to four master-planned communities: the City of Mission Viejo, City of Rancho Santa Margarita, Las Flores, and Ladera Ranch. A new community called Rancho Mission Viejo, is preparing to grand open its first village (Sendero) in June 2013.

In 2000, the Ranch family created a comprehensive open space preservation and land use plan for the remaining 23,000 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo. In 2004, the Ranch Plan was approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Today, that plan has resulted in the creation of The Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo (a nearly 17,000-acre habitat reserve on the Ranch) and the plan for a new community called Rancho Mission Viejo. The Ranch community is planned to provide several mixed-use villages (to be developed in phases over the next decades) and up to 14,000 new homes of which 6,000 will be for 55-plus buyers, as well as commercial and retail space, numerous parks, places for schools and houses of worship, essential protective services, and miles of trails connected with portions of The Reserve and regional hiking/biking/equestrian trails). The first village of Sendero on The Ranch is slated to open in June 2013.